At the end of the line that will surely form outside Ben & Jerry’s on Tuesday, there will be free ice cream.
The downtown Athens store celebrates free cone day from noon to 8 p.m.
Anyone in line before 8 p.m. and willing to wait will get a free ice cream cone.
This year’s free cone day is the 10th held in Athens, but the tradition has been in place since 1979, when Ben and Jerry celebrated one year of business in their first shop.
The ice cream holiday was created as a way to thank customers for their business throughout the year.
In the last year Ben & Jerry’s raised $3,500 through customer purchases on percentage nights and donated that money to various community groups, said Luis Correa, assistant manager of the Athens store.
The company prides itself on serving GMO-free, fair trade ice cream.
On Tuesday Ben & Jerry’s will partner with Athens for Everyone, a local progressive activist group. The group collects donations from customers and offer to register voters while they wait in line.
Follow reporter Hilary Butschek on Twitter @hilarylbutschek or at https://www.facebook.com/hbutschek.